Friendly Suggestions for Next Year's One Spark

[Cheshire Cat]

As folks share insights and suggestions, check out this article on One Spark.  Pretty good stuff.  Make sure to click the link to view the entire article.  This is the kind of out of town press Jacksonville needs.

Rob on April 23, 2013.


One Spark Opening Ceremony

What if you did not have to sell your soul to fund your dream? In many cases, potential business owners cannot justify the risks associated with financing a new start-up venture. Often, when funding cannot be obtained through traditional sources like bank financing or investments from individuals, a new business opportunity never makes it off the ground.

Crowdfunding, a revolutionary way of collecting capital for a project, lets the masses decide the destiny of the creators. When the group, rather than a bank or a board of directors, calls the shots, it is not about a large individual quantitative return, but rather, it is about a large collective qualitative return. Some may call this approach something akin to socialism; others, like John Mackey at Whole Foods, note this new shift in capitalism towards a sustainable approach to development and capitalism they call “Conscious Capitalism.” The world’s first crowdfunding festival, One Spark, not only physically demonstrated the pros and cons of the crowdfunding ecosystem, but also shed light on how entrepreneurs can quickly change the destiny of an entire region.
Elton Rivas talks at OneSpark

Elton Rivas talks at One Spark

Elton Rivas, one of the leaders behind One Spark, had a vision that started with coworking and then grew into something much more as entrepreneurs began to sign up. The coworking location became not just a place to work, but a community that hosted events to inspire knowledge and collaboration. Jacksonville native, Paige Calvert, the current director of Cowork Jax, was one of the passionate early adopters of coworking. Like many young Americans, Paige was attracted to the big city life of New York, but eventually returned home to Jacksonville for the weather and to be around the familiar people she loved and grew up with. After her return to Florida, she vied for the passionate urban community feel of New York in her hometown. This desire to couple her two favorite locales became a reality when she met entrepreneur Elton Rivas during a coworking preview weekend; she quickly signed up to help shift the urban landscape in Jacksonville, which already had its own big-city style. “I have an apartment in downtown Jacksonville,” she boasts, “I walk to work. Nearby, there are coffee shops like Bold Bean. This is awesome.

http://www.eastcoopercompany.com/events/onespark-ignites-crowdfunding-capitalism-and-jacksonville/

[TheatreTart]

They complained about the voting. Those that didn't spend time reading up on the event didn't understand the process of casting their ballot, some without smartphones felt it was too much of a hassle and some didn't know they could vote more than once.

The venues were extremely far apart if you were an 75 year old with bad knees. Perfect if you had the health, time and drive to see it all.  Having volunteers point out the venues was a good idea but it wasn't enough. Maybe instead of being spread out that far we could co-op a few of the crummy surface lots and put tents up.  And consider  "districts". We had an entertainment area, why not have serperate districts for art, technology, etc. A clearer map would help as well.

I agree with the statements about chosing one category to be entered in. It gives the appearance of "salting" the vote somehow. If your idea is entered under many categories and if you have the benefit of a large group of constituents (say a mega church or two) and request votes from you can't help but win.

I'd like to see much more substantial cash prizes to the winners, but everyone get a little something to offset their costs of doing business downtown for 5 days.

If a creator was a no show they should not be allowed to take a space the following year.  And a creator should be required to staff their booth at all times during the event. I was downtown from 10 am until 3 pm on Friday and their were many booths that were not set up. (yes, I know it is a work day but make other arrangements)

Honestly, all in all I loved it. It can only get better each year.

^^^Agree with everything CityLife said.

I LOVED OneSpark and hope it "sparks" downtown, grows and that next year is even better. Just a few ideas for pondering:

- A "vetting" process for the creators - nothing big, but a re-focus from this year regarding categories, tiers, etc. Depending on the focus, should large, long-established groups like the Zoo and YMCA who get loads of money from individual investors and foundations be competing on the same level as a newbie like Kona School, etc?
- A creator "happy hour"/networking session. etc. for the creators since it's difficult to spend a lot of time going around to all of the incredible groups.
- Disqualify the creators who don't fully participate. (It was worth repeating that one. ;-)) I volunteered on Saturday morning on the Riverwalk. It was COLD and RAINY and 8:30 AM. But me and lots of other folks were there with smiles on. MANY of the creators were not there until well after the weather cleared.
- Consolidate or organize the areas/venues more...at least until the festival grows to the size of this year's designated area
- Consider moving the times - start on Thursday afternoon? Go noon to midnight Th and F and 9-9 Sat and Sun.

Just a few for now. :-)

[Cheshire Cat]

"Breaking News.....Breaking News....Breaking News!!!!!!!!!" (wow it is fun to cry wolf! lol)

A downtown shop keeper did not like the "dance pole" so near their property. lmbo  Really?  I liked the pole.  It's exercise right?

Now this nice piece from Mark Woods of the T.U.

There are a lot of ways to gauge what happened for five days in downtown Jacksonville. But if I were to describe my experiences at the first One Spark, I’d start at the end, standing in the middle of a crowded Skyway car.

After spending a few hours downtown, I had hopped on at Hemming Plaza, then switched at Central for the ride back to the parking garage at Kings Avenue. A large group of parents and children also boarded there. And as the car climbed up the Acosta Bridge, some of the out-of-town riders pointed their cellphones toward downtown, recording photos and video of where they had just been.

They seemed excited to have been there. I felt oddly proud that they were excited, as if I personally had done something other than go downtown, listen to some music, check out some projects and wander through the closed streets with an Intuition Ale One Spark in hand.

I did a quick head count. The Skyway car wasn’t Tokyo-at-rush-hour full. But it was standing-room-only. And I was thinking about how good it felt to be standing in a crowded car with 21 other people when one of the kids giggled and several others groaned, waving their hands in front of their noses.

Crowded cars on the Skyway. Traffic congestion downtown. Long waits at restaurants.

Isn’t it wonderful?

More than once I heard someone talking about the vibe, even the seemingly negative aspects, by saying, “Isn’t this great? ... This feels like a real downtown.”

It’s not just that the inaugural One Spark attracted an eclectic mix of serious and whimsical projects, making it feel like a science fair, music festival, art exhibit, live infomercial and reality show â€" your votes decide the winners! â€" all rolled into one.

It’s also that the first One Spark attracted an eclectic mix of tens of thousands of people. From wealthy to homeless, cocktail attire to beach casual, urban to redneck, old to young. All seemingly having a good time at what was billed as the world’s first crowdfunding festival.

There were some complaints here and there. One of the stories in the paper during the event said a business owner wasn’t thrilled about the project on her street: pole-dancing-for-fitness. (I missed this project. Honest. But another columnist, whom I won’t name, seemed quite impressed by it.)

In the days since the first One Spark ended, most of the people I’ve talked to about it have declared it a great debut. And then they have inevitably rattled off some things they think should be done differently.

Bigger checks for the big winners. Less isolated venues. More food trucks. Fewer food trucks. A shorter festival. One that extends until Sunday evening ...

But here’s the thing: This wasn’t like a lot of the criticism I hear (and, yes, sometimes make) about what is happening in town.

It wasn’t grumbling for the sake of grumbling. It was people excited about what they experienced this year, already looking forward to something even bigger and better next year.

mark.woods@jacksonville.com

http://members.jacksonville.com/opinion/premium/blog/455124/mark-woods/2013-04-24/mark-woods-downtown-felt-downtown-should-feel

[Cheshire Cat]

"Breaking News......Breaking News......"Freakin" Breaking News!!!!!!!"  (Get's old quick doesn't it?  lol)

"Quacker Jax" the large and whimsical yellow duck who made his national debut during Jacksonville's "One Spark" festival, went missing from a Hemming Park fountain shortly after the close of the event which ended on Sunday.  Rumors circulated that a group of questionable looking individuals were seen taking "Quacker" from the downtown location.   Worried officials sent out an A.P.B. with descriptions of the duck who some claim was seen headed toward the UNF campus.  Some believed the duck may have bonded with his creators in the Design Department there and those creators had somehow managed to convince the unknown group to abscond with "Quacker".  I have yet to verify this information, but it does sound feasible.  The break in this story came when this reporter was perusing her FB page to see the post of a friend, MJ poster and educator extraordinaire, "Jaxson" who had found "Quacker Jax" well and happy, now floating in a pond near the library entrance at UNF.  I wonder, will "Quacker Jax" be happy out of the spotlight or will the call of celebrity again draw the duck center stage in upcoming Jacksonville events?  We shall see.

[gonz69n]

Hello,
I was one of the creators participating in One Spark. While I admit the process was difficult and somewhat vague at times, the event was fun and worthwhile to take part in. I actually find it slightly offensive that several people who could not even be botherd to vote are on here giving sugestions on how to change One Spark. For those who were confused on how to vote, did you ever bother to ask one of the creators? I spent just as much time pitching for One Spark as I did for my project. I managed to get several people who were in town for business and had no idea what was going on to register and participate on the spot. If you were confused, all you had to do was communicate. That is kind of the point of One Spark. That a little idea can grow into something big if you share it.

I hate, hate, hate the idea of lumping all of the creators into designated Zones. My project was heavily art based buy I do not want to be lumped into the Southlight gallery area, or the Art Center, or the Jen Jones Gallery, etc. Look at what happened to the folks on the sixth floor of Suntrust. They were largely tech and seemed to be mostly smartphone apps. We are all so inundated with apps everyday that people ignored that area.  Nobody checked it out there was no buzz. What if a couple of the cool art projects were up there? What if Boneshaker had been up there? If you lump things together it gets segregated and you never discover anything new. I can here the qoutes now "I don't care for all of that smeary abstract art stuff so I avoided the art area entirely, after all I only wanted to check out inventions." What if in the process of looking for a particular inventor you stumble upon an art piece that actually moves you?

Why does everyone want to change the prize structure? If you want to see the big prizes go up then simply contribute to the causes/projects you care about. Again this was a major point of One Spark. Want to see even bigger prizes for the top vote getters then make the overall pot even bigger.  Think about how much 2% of 1 million would be. Imagine being a person who only received .026% of the vote but the pot is a million dollars.  That would be something to talk about, that would get peoples attention.

At the very least before you start wanting to change things you should at least get in and participate instead of just standing on the side lines and complaining.

[urbaknight]

Hello,
I was one of the creators participating in One Spark. While I admit the process was difficult and somewhat vague at times, the event was fun and worthwhile to take part in. I actually find it slightly offensive that several people who could not even be botherd to vote are on here giving sugestions on how to change One Spark. For those who were confused on how to vote, did you ever bother to ask one of the creators? I spent just as much time pitching for One Spark as I did for my project. I managed to get several people who were in town for business and had no idea what was going on to register and participate on the spot. If you were confused, all you had to do was communicate. That is kind of the point of One Spark. That a little idea can grow into something big if you share it.

I hate, hate, hate the idea of lumping all of the creators into designated Zones. My project was heavily art based buy I do not want to be lumped into the Southlight gallery area, or the Art Center, or the Jen Jones Gallery, etc. Look at what happened to the folks on the sixth floor of Suntrust. They were largely tech and seemed to be mostly smartphone apps. We are all so inundated with apps everyday that people ignored that area.  Nobody checked it out there was no buzz. What if a couple of the cool art projects were up there? What if Boneshaker had been up there? If you lump things together it gets segregated and you never discover anything new. I can here the qoutes now "I don't care for all of that smeary abstract art stuff so I avoided the art area entirely, after all I only wanted to check out inventions." What if in the process of looking for a particular inventor you stumble upon an art piece that actually moves you?

Why does everyone want to change the prize structure? If you want to see the big prizes go up then simply contribute to the causes/projects you care about. Again this was a major point of One Spark. Want to see even bigger prizes for the top vote getters then make the overall pot even bigger.  Think about how much 2% of 1 million would be. Imagine being a person who only received .026% of the vote but the pot is a million dollars.  That would be something to talk about, that would get peoples attention.

At the very least before you start wanting to change things you should at least get in and participate instead of just standing on the side lines and complaining.

Agreed,

I went up there several times. Two of my roommates were there and I had to go back to see exhibits that I liked but had no one available at that time.

What was your idea? I may've even talked with you at length.

[urbaknight]

Hello,
I was one of the creators participating in One Spark. While I admit the process was difficult and somewhat vague at times, the event was fun and worthwhile to take part in. I actually find it slightly offensive that several people who could not even be botherd to vote are on here giving sugestions on how to change One Spark. For those who were confused on how to vote, did you ever bother to ask one of the creators? I spent just as much time pitching for One Spark as I did for my project. I managed to get several people who were in town for business and had no idea what was going on to register and participate on the spot. If you were confused, all you had to do was communicate. That is kind of the point of One Spark. That a little idea can grow into something big if you share it.

I hate, hate, hate the idea of lumping all of the creators into designated Zones. My project was heavily art based buy I do not want to be lumped into the Southlight gallery area, or the Art Center, or the Jen Jones Gallery, etc. Look at what happened to the folks on the sixth floor of Suntrust. They were largely tech and seemed to be mostly smartphone apps. We are all so inundated with apps everyday that people ignored that area.  Nobody checked it out there was no buzz. What if a couple of the cool art projects were up there? What if Boneshaker had been up there? If you lump things together it gets segregated and you never discover anything new. I can here the qoutes now "I don't care for all of that smeary abstract art stuff so I avoided the art area entirely, after all I only wanted to check out inventions." What if in the process of looking for a particular inventor you stumble upon an art piece that actually moves you?

Why does everyone want to change the prize structure? If you want to see the big prizes go up then simply contribute to the causes/projects you care about. Again this was a major point of One Spark. Want to see even bigger prizes for the top vote getters then make the overall pot even bigger.  Think about how much 2% of 1 million would be. Imagine being a person who only received .026% of the vote but the pot is a million dollars.  That would be something to talk about, that would get peoples attention.

At the very least before you start wanting to change things you should at least get in and participate instead of just standing on the side lines and complaining.

Agreed,

I went up there several times. Two of my roommates were there and I had to go back to see exhibits that I liked but had no one available at that time.

What was your idea? I may've even talked with you at length.

Oh yeah, welcome to MJ! Glad to see our demographic's growing!

[Cheshire Cat]

Hello,
I was one of the creators participating in One Spark. While I admit the process was difficult and somewhat vague at times, the event was fun and worthwhile to take part in. I actually find it slightly offensive that several people who could not even be botherd to vote are on here giving sugestions on how to change One Spark. For those who were confused on how to vote, did you ever bother to ask one of the creators? I spent just as much time pitching for One Spark as I did for my project. I managed to get several people who were in town for business and had no idea what was going on to register and participate on the spot. If you were confused, all you had to do was communicate. That is kind of the point of One Spark. That a little idea can grow into something big if you share it.

I hate, hate, hate the idea of lumping all of the creators into designated Zones. My project was heavily art based buy I do not want to be lumped into the Southlight gallery area, or the Art Center, or the Jen Jones Gallery, etc. Look at what happened to the folks on the sixth floor of Suntrust. They were largely tech and seemed to be mostly smartphone apps. We are all so inundated with apps everyday that people ignored that area.  Nobody checked it out there was no buzz. What if a couple of the cool art projects were up there? What if Boneshaker had been up there? If you lump things together it gets segregated and you never discover anything new. I can here the qoutes now "I don't care for all of that smeary abstract art stuff so I avoided the art area entirely, after all I only wanted to check out inventions." What if in the process of looking for a particular inventor you stumble upon an art piece that actually moves you?

Why does everyone want to change the prize structure? If you want to see the big prizes go up then simply contribute to the causes/projects you care about. Again this was a major point of One Spark. Want to see even bigger prizes for the top vote getters then make the overall pot even bigger.  Think about how much 2% of 1 million would be. Imagine being a person who only received .026% of the vote but the pot is a million dollars.  That would be something to talk about, that would get peoples attention.

At the very least before you start wanting to change things you should at least get in and participate instead of just standing on the side lines and complaining.

Hello and welcome.  Don't be to angry with the folks who had difficulty with the voting process though as many tried to get it right. That above anything else has been the number one issue folks have said was a bit off and needed to be revisited.  I know of several who attempted to get help with voting by calling the One Spark assistance line.  As it turned out many of those volunteers were on cell phones and for whatever reason, many calling for help were disconnected or the call dropped.  In some cases even the directions given were not clear.  It's all good though as the One Spark folks have already said this is something they will work to streamline and make more user friendly next time around.

I agree with you about clumping like venues together.  I don't care for the idea and think it might prevent folks for happening upon some ideas that interest which they may miss if they only decided to visit a single area like tech or art for instance. 

[urbaknight]

Another idea that I have for next year, is to find a good bunch of people from all over Duval that are of like mind and willing to run for council. Think of it, a great platform for candidates to kick off their campaigns, to get their word out to a huge crowd that's out there to change Jax in the first place.

Some on this website said, the best way to defeat the special interests, is to become a special interest ourselves.

So how about it? We have an entire year to get prepared; And I believe that 2014 is an election year!

The candidates can even set up booths just like all of the other creators. And if they're well liked and have a strong vote, campaign contributions from the people at large, not those evil developers!

[Cheshire Cat]

The idea has merit but I doubt One Spark want's to get knee deep in politics.  It can be deadly to creative efforts.  lol  However there is nothing to stop an independent group from setting up an area for candidates in the core.  I think location and timing would be important to such an effort.

[ProjectMaximus]

Hello,
I was one of the creators participating in One Spark. While I admit the process was difficult and somewhat vague at times, the event was fun and worthwhile to take part in. I actually find it slightly offensive that several people who could not even be botherd to vote are on here giving sugestions on how to change One Spark. For those who were confused on how to vote, did you ever bother to ask one of the creators? I spent just as much time pitching for One Spark as I did for my project. I managed to get several people who were in town for business and had no idea what was going on to register and participate on the spot. If you were confused, all you had to do was communicate. That is kind of the point of One Spark. That a little idea can grow into something big if you share it.

I hate, hate, hate the idea of lumping all of the creators into designated Zones. My project was heavily art based buy I do not want to be lumped into the Southlight gallery area, or the Art Center, or the Jen Jones Gallery, etc. Look at what happened to the folks on the sixth floor of Suntrust. They were largely tech and seemed to be mostly smartphone apps. We are all so inundated with apps everyday that people ignored that area.  Nobody checked it out there was no buzz. What if a couple of the cool art projects were up there? What if Boneshaker had been up there? If you lump things together it gets segregated and you never discover anything new. I can here the qoutes now "I don't care for all of that smeary abstract art stuff so I avoided the art area entirely, after all I only wanted to check out inventions." What if in the process of looking for a particular inventor you stumble upon an art piece that actually moves you?

Why does everyone want to change the prize structure? If you want to see the big prizes go up then simply contribute to the causes/projects you care about. Again this was a major point of One Spark. Want to see even bigger prizes for the top vote getters then make the overall pot even bigger.  Think about how much 2% of 1 million would be. Imagine being a person who only received .026% of the vote but the pot is a million dollars.  That would be something to talk about, that would get peoples attention.

At the very least before you start wanting to change things you should at least get in and participate instead of just standing on the side lines and complaining.

Thanks for your thoughts!! I am for the grouping of categories but definitely see your point and agree there's a lot to consider. As for the prize system, it just seems that you need big potential dollars to attract players on a national and perhaps international level. The amount of time and energy that some of the major projects put into this has to at least see some of them reap a return on investment. BTW, 2% of 2 Million is just $20k, which is not much at all for some of the ideas that were presented.

[ghalti]

Hello,
I was one of the creators participating in One Spark. While I admit the process was difficult and somewhat vague at times, the event was fun and worthwhile to take part in. I actually find it slightly offensive that several people who could not even be botherd to vote are on here giving sugestions on how to change One Spark. For those who were confused on how to vote, did you ever bother to ask one of the creators? I spent just as much time pitching for One Spark as I did for my project. I managed to get several people who were in town for business and had no idea what was going on to register and participate on the spot. If you were confused, all you had to do was communicate. That is kind of the point of One Spark. That a little idea can grow into something big if you share it.

I hate, hate, hate the idea of lumping all of the creators into designated Zones. My project was heavily art based buy I do not want to be lumped into the Southlight gallery area, or the Art Center, or the Jen Jones Gallery, etc. Look at what happened to the folks on the sixth floor of Suntrust. They were largely tech and seemed to be mostly smartphone apps. We are all so inundated with apps everyday that people ignored that area.  Nobody checked it out there was no buzz. What if a couple of the cool art projects were up there? What if Boneshaker had been up there? If you lump things together it gets segregated and you never discover anything new. I can here the qoutes now "I don't care for all of that smeary abstract art stuff so I avoided the art area entirely, after all I only wanted to check out inventions." What if in the process of looking for a particular inventor you stumble upon an art piece that actually moves you?

Why does everyone want to change the prize structure? If you want to see the big prizes go up then simply contribute to the causes/projects you care about. Again this was a major point of One Spark. Want to see even bigger prizes for the top vote getters then make the overall pot even bigger.  Think about how much 2% of 1 million would be. Imagine being a person who only received .026% of the vote but the pot is a million dollars.  That would be something to talk about, that would get peoples attention.

At the very least before you start wanting to change things you should at least get in and participate instead of just standing on the side lines and complaining.

Because you participated as a creator your views may differ from many that were just attendees. I don't think opinions voiced here are just "negative nellies". Many of us fully embraced the experience, visiting as many booths as possible and voting as allowed. But we see room for improvement.

As someone that used to chair large events I can assure you that the One Spark committee will look at every bit of feedback they receive and will make decisions based
on all that data for next year. It's part of their job (paid or unpaid).

[dougskiles]

Hello,
I was one of the creators participating in One Spark. While I admit the process was difficult and somewhat vague at times, the event was fun and worthwhile to take part in. I actually find it slightly offensive that several people who could not even be botherd to vote are on here giving sugestions on how to change One Spark. For those who were confused on how to vote, did you ever bother to ask one of the creators? I spent just as much time pitching for One Spark as I did for my project. I managed to get several people who were in town for business and had no idea what was going on to register and participate on the spot. If you were confused, all you had to do was communicate. That is kind of the point of One Spark. That a little idea can grow into something big if you share it.

I hate, hate, hate the idea of lumping all of the creators into designated Zones. My project was heavily art based buy I do not want to be lumped into the Southlight gallery area, or the Art Center, or the Jen Jones Gallery, etc. Look at what happened to the folks on the sixth floor of Suntrust. They were largely tech and seemed to be mostly smartphone apps. We are all so inundated with apps everyday that people ignored that area.  Nobody checked it out there was no buzz. What if a couple of the cool art projects were up there? What if Boneshaker had been up there? If you lump things together it gets segregated and you never discover anything new. I can here the qoutes now "I don't care for all of that smeary abstract art stuff so I avoided the art area entirely, after all I only wanted to check out inventions." What if in the process of looking for a particular inventor you stumble upon an art piece that actually moves you?

Why does everyone want to change the prize structure? If you want to see the big prizes go up then simply contribute to the causes/projects you care about. Again this was a major point of One Spark. Want to see even bigger prizes for the top vote getters then make the overall pot even bigger.  Think about how much 2% of 1 million would be. Imagine being a person who only received .026% of the vote but the pot is a million dollars.  That would be something to talk about, that would get peoples attention.

At the very least before you start wanting to change things you should at least get in and participate instead of just standing on the side lines and complaining.

I agree on all points.

I am far from tech savvy (still haven't completely figured out how to use iTunes) and I was able to get the voting down quickly.  In many cases, I voted while the creator was making their pitch.  At the end they would say "I would appreciate your vote" and I would show them my phone and say "I already did".

I too like things mixed up.  It would put me into a situation where I saw exhibits that I might not have thought I would find interesting initially.  And then I was surprisingly intrigued.

And to your point about making donations, I did that as well.  I set myself a budget for what I would have been willing to pay to attend such an event and contributed that much extra.

Maybe there are some tweaks to be made.  But I have also seen many a great idea "fixed" so well that it was found dead on the side of the road.

[zippizee]

I loved the event! I thought it had a grass roots feel. I went 2 days, Wednesday and Friday nights. As far as suggestions go I'd just like to see the event keep going each year. It's going to take momentum to build up to something great and wonderful. As far as the purse sizes, one would be surprised with what little it takes and that much exposure to get things up and running. I was pleasantly surprised with how many creators I knew and grew up with here in Jax! There is so much talent and I agree with one spark, lets get it up and running here!

[Tacachale]

"Breaking News......Breaking News......"Freakin" Breaking News!!!!!!!"  (Get's old quick doesn't it?  lol)

"Quacker Jax" the large and whimsical yellow duck who made his national debut during Jacksonville's "One Spark" festival, went missing from a Hemming Park fountain shortly after the close of the event which ended on Sunday.  Rumors circulated that a group of questionable looking individuals were seen taking "Quacker" from the downtown location.   Worried officials sent out an A.P.B. with descriptions of the duck who some claim was seen headed toward the UNF campus.  Some believed the duck may have bonded with his creators in the Design Department there and those creators had somehow managed to convince the unknown group to abscond with "Quacker".  I have yet to verify this information, but it does sound feasible.  The break in this story came when this reporter was perusing her FB page to see the post of a friend, MJ poster and educator extraordinaire, "Jaxson" who had found "Quacker Jax" well and happy, now floating in a pond near the library entrance at UNF.  I wonder, will "Quacker Jax" be happy out of the spotlight or will the call of celebrity again draw the duck center stage in upcoming Jacksonville events?  We shall see.

Guess who's back, back again: